Les Bright and Pete Stockwell on the chancellor’s suggestion that a salary of £100,000 ‘doesn’t go as far as you might think’, and Trevor Lyttleton on the state pension triple lock
Jeremy Hunt may be accurately reflecting the position of some of his constituents in South West Surrey when he says that an income of £100,000 per year “doesn’t go as far as you might think” (Jeremy Hunt doubles down on ‘£100k a year doesn’t go far’ claim, 24 March). But as chancellor, he needs to have something to say about the situation facing families throughout the country, including some of his own constituents, as a result of the dramatic growth in the number of people in absolute poverty (300,000 more UK children fell into absolute poverty at height of cost of living crisis, 21 March).
Crowing about the fall in the rate of inflation will not make essential items more affordable. Laudable though it may be to reassure elderly people that pensions will continue to be protected by the triple lock, this should not be paid for by further impoverishing the poorest by pursuing divisive income support policies that leave one fifth of the population in poverty.
Les Bright
Exeter
